It is known to package a variety of consumer goods in hinge-lid containers that comprise a receptacle portion for housing the goods and a reclosable lid that is hinged to the receptacle portion. For example, cigarettes and other smoking articles are commonly sold in hinge-lid packs comprising a lower box portion and an upper lid portion, which is hinged to the rear wall of the lower box portion. Such packs are formed from laminar cardboard blanks that include various panels and flaps, which when folded about appropriate score lines around a pre-wrapped bundle of cigarettes form the box portion and the lid portion of the hinge-lid pack.
Graphics and text are typically applied to the exterior of packaging for consumer goods in order to communicate information to the consumer. It would be desirable to provide hinge-lid containers for consumer goods having substantially the same external appearance as conventional hinge-lid containers, but with additional surface areas that may, for example, carry supplementary brand, advertising, promotional or product information.
Conventional hinge-lid cigarette packs are relatively small in size and so have especially limited visible exterior surface area. It would be particularly desirable, therefore, to provide a hinge-lid pack for smoking articles having substantially the same external appearance as a conventional hinge-lid cigarette pack, but comprising additional surface areas.
It would further be desirable to provide a hinge-lid container having such additional surface areas, which can be produced with minimal or no modification to existing packing machinery.
DE-A-198 14 255 discloses a hinge-lid cardboard cigarette pack having a pair of additional flaps extending from the longitudinal rear edges of the outer side wall panels of the box portion, which are folded against the rear wall of the box portion.